Bombus

Chapter 4

  "You've gotta pick a station, man. And I know there is a lot of choices." Charlie shook her head while Bee was going from one station to the next on the radio. "What are you trying to do?"

  "Excuse me. Sorry to barge in at night, I just-" And I panicked as some random guy barged into the garage. Bee quickly turned into the beetle, but it was too late, and he had already been seen. Charlie raced over to the guy that was now freaking out and had him sit down as she closed the door.

  "Breathe. Just breathe. First of all, hi."

  "Hi."

  "I'm Charlie."

  "I'm Memo. Hi."

  "Hi, Memo. Um, oh, that's Alex." My sister gestured to me, and I stood between them and Bee while glaring at the boy. "It's nice to meet you."

  "Pleasure to have-" And he seemed to have difficulty speaking as he was breathing heavily.

  "I know what you saw, it's a little crazy. I can explain." Charlie waved her hands a few times before looking back at Memo. "Yeah, I can't explain. But here's the deal. If you tell anyone what you just saw, I'm gonna have to....run you over with my car."

  "....Jeez."

  "That was- No, I don't mean that in a mean way, okay? What I'm saying is no one can know what you just saw. Okay? You promise?"

  "....Yeah."

  "Okay." Charlie turned to the beetle and I now and took a deep breath. "Bumblebee, you can-you can come out now." I heard that strange noise and knew Bee was transforming back into his humanoid shape. I also knew he was kind of hiding behind me because he was holding my shoulders as if using me as a human shield.

  "It's a...."

  "He."

  "Wow." Memo chuckled and Bee lifted one hand to give a shy wave.

~

  "He's been going up and down on that dial all day today, and I don't know why." Charlie stated while driving Bee. Memo had shotgun while I was just relaxing in the back, having the entire seat to myself. "Hey, check out his reflexes."

  "What?" Memo looked confused, and Charlie lifted her hands from the wheel. "Oh! Oh, God! Oh!"

  "Yo, give me your shirt."

  "Huh?"

  "Give me your shirt."

  "You mean the shirt that I'm wearing?"

  "Yes, yes. Come on! I'll give it back to you."

  "Okay." Memo began to unbutton his shirt, and I had no clue what in the world Charlie was going to do. The boy handed over his shirt and covered his nipples with his hands while Charlie folded up the shirt before knocking on the roof. The roof retracted and a blast of wind hit me in the face.

  "Hey! No-No! Y-You don't need to do this."

  "Yes, I do." Charlie tied the shirt over her face and stood up on the seat. Oh, no. No, no, no. 'Charlie, are you crazy?!' She pulled up the shirtless boy with her and threw her hands into the air while hollering. 'Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall.' My brain kept repeating as I had my hands out just in case to catch her. I knew Bee would drive safely, but that didn't mean my sister wouldn't lose her balance.

  Memo's shirt flew off Charlie's head, and we all looked back the way it had flown.

  "Sorry. I know I promised you but....I can't give you that back." And they were laughing, having a good time as they were howling and hollering with their arms in the air.